Tuesday, January 15, 2008

The Many and the Few!

Why is it that a relatively small (percentage wise) group of people get to lord of the majority of the population? Bolivar clearly loved his homeland of Venezuela and wanted his dear Gran Columbia to become a great power just like the United States. It is only by luck of parentage and geography that many of us from the imperial powers of Europe, Asia and North America get to come to these former colonies to "Live like Kings". It places a responsibility on those of us who enjoy relative economic prosperity to do something to help those less fortunate, noblesse oblige. Africa, Central-South America, Asia, Middle East and anywhere else that has been under the colonial boot for an extended period of time to this day still has the great majority of it´s citizens living harsh lives with little possibility for change. The nonsense that things are getting better for more and more people is so absurd, or like anything, it depends on your ppoint of view. In China for those 200 million that have been allowed the economic freedom to exploit a billion of their fellow countrymen to produce vast quantity of merchandise that can now be found at Walmart and their ilk, certainly life has gotten better. For those 1 billion other Chineese life has gotten considerable harder than what it was under Mao, before the economic liberalization of the economy. The simple question is how do we take better care of those living harder lives? It seems to me that as long as we continue with a belief in scarcity that legitamizes the use of violence, be it military or economic, we will not get at the root of the problem. Ultimately it comes down to the individual. What each and everyone of us does is important, critical in fact, in this time of maximum everything. For it is only when enough of us have become truly human that things can really change.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Don:

We are so glad that you are able to keep in touch via your blog. How are your language lessons going?


I could not agree with you more about the expoitation of the workers while the corruption in government allows it and the greed of the wealthy perpetrate it.

We in the U.S have sent so much of our manufacturing to China because of the cheap labor, we have icreased the poverty in our own country by the lack of employment for those you were once gainfully employed in the mills and auto industry,

The age old admonition to be our brothers' keeper resonates today as clearly as it has through the ages.Each and every one of us, each in his own way, can and must make a difference.

Tia is coming to spend the week end with us so I am excited about that and my bunkie is going to take his scooter driving test on Saturday and Sunday morning. He went to a four hour class last night in Haward with seven others, he bing the only senior. My hats off to him.

Love,

Mom

Alan Wick said...

Don, am enjoying your blog notes, also thinking about Health Wallah. OK with you if I take it over while you're gone? You can post your answer as a comment or email your answer to alanwick@mindspring.com. Stay well, bro.

Anonymous said...

Mom,

Thanks for your clearly thought out response to this blog entry. It strikes me as NOT so funny how the justification and legitimazation of poverty always carries a belief of superiority with it. It´s a useful mental exercise to imagine the tbles being turned, its one of the reason why travel is so useful. I met a woman who had just spent 4 months in Haiti working in a school for 3-5 year olds. She said that pretty much every single person in the country is REALLY poor. That the level of poverty is absolutely hard to believe unless you actually experience it first hand. The most interesting thing about it though,was that the people were so genuinely happy. She reccommended that people from America and Europe would benefit greatly from going and in fact it could change their consciouness. Nice thought that.

Anonymous said...

Alan,

Grat to see thatyour following my advnetures and your definitely more than welcome totake over the Health Wallah role. Thanks for doing this, its a role your quite good at.